Tonight (Wednesday) and Saturday we face off against the same opponents, so I have decided to do a preview for both games inside one post. That opponent is the Cardiff Devils who are riding high in second position, prior to the puck drop tonight, in the Elite League. They trail the Panthers on regulation losses (Panthers have one, Devils two) but are certainly proving that last season was no flash in the pan whatsoever.
So how tough will these games be?
Very tough indeed. Cardiff have the full arsenal needed to win a hockey game, and players are certainly buying to Andrew Lord's systems. When he was first appointed I thought it would be a struggle for him to combine playing and coaching but this guy has certainly got off to a good start for sure. He recruited a good roster last season but this season's one has certainly proven to be even better.
You look at it and it's incredibly good. From the offence provided by players such Jake Morrisette and Joey Martin to solid defending provided on the blue line by one time Sheffield target Tyson Marsh and Trevor Hendrix. Then if somehow you get past them, you have GB internationalist Ben Bowns in between the pipes and he's not easy to beat as we have found out many many times before.
Devils will be missing Brent Walton for another six weeks or so with injury but can rely upon Chris Culligan to fill in his absence. Culligan impressed me last season with his versatility, being able to fill in on defence or play forward, and certainly has a very good hockey brain too.
Then there's the sniping goal poacher that is Gui Doucet and the hard hitting Leigh Salters. See what I mean about them having the full package? That's how tough it is going to be.
What of our own?
Well we need to start to winning games, and in regulation if we are start to haul back the early pacesetters. Seven points off the pace at present, and having played the same number of games as them tells it's own story. But we too can blow teams offensively if we really click, remember that game back in the Arena in September when we tore into this same Devils side from the get go? We were 4-0 up after 20 and went on to win 8-1; that is what we are capable of.
However the defensive side has kinda slipped, if you pardon the pun, recently and we have been conceding quite a few goals. This is where Cardiff will think they have a chance to win with their offence. Re-tighten this up back to the way it was at the start of the season then we will see the re-surge up the table. It's that simple.
We will on Wednesday be missing Tyler Mosienko for the match penalty he picked up against the Panthers, and at the time of writing this - we still await DOPS to come back and advise if there are going to be further games missed. My feeling is that there will be, and I would not be shocked if it was increased by an extra 3 or 4 as I said on this week's podcast. I don't expect Fitzy to be banned by DOPS following Panthers review on a play on David Ling, if he is then we will be really up against it. We will be playing imports down as you can't replace a suspended one with a new one.
It means a little reshuffle of the lines forwards wise, and I reckon it will be Vestberg on the top line again with Hewy coming in to centre the third line of Jono and Duco. The game on Wednesday might come a bit too soon for Colton Fretter although I would not be surprised if he features this weekend in either or both games. Whom Paul Thompson sacrifices for his inclusion is down to PT. You're the coach who makes these ballsy decisions Paul, and I would have done the same over the netminder issue on Sunday: that was a good call indeed.
Predictions?
I am personally not expecting much from these games against the Devils. They are a team with confidence running high whilst ours is very much topsy-turvy. If we can get a point out of the game tonight then that will be something as I don't expect our abysmal record in the BBT to change whatsoever. I think we will sadly slip to two defeats, both in regulation too. I reckon it might be something like 3-1 tonight and we will go down by at least 3 down at the BBT.
But then again, there's been a few shocks this season already as both sides have been beaten by those Edinburgh Capitals. Wouldn't it be nice, when the chips seem to be down, for us to rip the league form book up and cause one of our own? That would really give the team the belief that they are not to be discounted by others. I hope we can, as ever.
So that concludes my preview, appreciated the time you will have to read this.
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